Brazil's World Cup exit signals end of an era – can Ancelotti rebuild?

Four years ago, Brazil left the World Cup in the quarterfinals feeling unlucky against Croatia. Four years before that, they felt the same after Belgium knocked them out at the same stage. This time, there was no bad luck involved. Norway sent them packing in the Round of 16, and the result was a brutal reality check. This is an unmitigated disaster for Brazilian football. Carlo Ancelotti walked into the job with a patch-up mentality after a 4-1 thrashing by Argentina last March. In 16 games as head coach, he posted 10 wins, three draws, and three losses. He stabilized a team that had lost four of five World Cup qualifiers before he took over. But it hasn't been enough. Brazil now needs major surgery — and the operation has to start in midfield, the very area where they once dazzled the world with creativity and flair. Abandoning imaginative central play has cost Brazil not just admiration but results. Watching them get completely outpassed by Norway on a hot summer afternoon is staggering — and it comes down to squad construction. Ancelotti became a hostage to Casemiro. His first move was to bring the veteran back after 18 months in the international wilderness. Casemiro gave structure and freed Bruno Guimarães, who was having a strong tournament until he missed an early penalty against Norway — a miss that could have changed everything. But Casemiro's lack of mobility in open space was always a ticking clock. It showed in the second minute when Norway had a goal disallowed. Brazil’s response was to drop deep, let Norway pass the ball around, and watch them grow in confidence. Then there was the absence of Lucas Paquetá, injured in the previous round against Japan. Ancelotti admitted he had no one with the same profile. He turned to Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli, which shifted Brazil’s attack almost entirely to quick, direct counters. The coach made a mistake in his squad selection — taking only five midfielders was a serious oversight. When right back Wesley got hurt in the final warm-up, Ancelotti used the opening to call up Ederson, a potential Manchester United signing. But if the coach deserves blame, so does the country. Brazil is churning out wide forwards at an absurd rate but failing to produce quality midfielders. And then there is Neymar. This one is entirely on the coach. The public clamored for his inclusion, ignoring the weekly evidence that he was nowhere near his former self. Ancelotti said Neymar would only get called up if he deserved it and that he wouldn't take injured players — then broke both rules for Neymar. In a brief appearance against Scotland, Neymar looked like a retired player wandering onto the pitch for a charity game. It was stunning that Ancelotti turned to him for a live, knockout match. The tactical adjustment was painful: Neymar couldn't track back, so he was used as a center-forward, pushing Vinícius Júnior and Endrick wide and deeper — away from goal, where they should have been. That opened up the side and finally gave Norway a way to feed Erling Haaland. He didn't need more. Neymar scored from the penalty spot, but he probably should have been sent off for a wild, petulant kick — a last childish gesture before leaving the stage. In his prime, he was a borderline genius. But this is the end of the line, as it is for many in an aging squad. After the match, Neymar made it clear. "I tried, I tried... now it's over! I started here, I finished here," he told Brazilian channel ge tv, referring to making his debut at the same stadium in New Jersey in 2010. Ancelotti disagreed. "I don't think this is the end. I think this is the start of a new cycle," he insisted. "What we can do and what we are going to do is keep working hard for the national team, keep trying to improve and find new ideas. I think we have done a good job, but this is football and this is sport. You just have to deal with it, deal with the sadness and the taste of defeat. I am very much used to this and we will handle this. We will use it as fuel going forward."